Let There Be Light - It Would Cost $5,000

SUNDAY SIDELIGHTS

March 11, 1990

Tired of waiting for road improvements? Do what Sanford Commissioner Lon Howell did - run for office. Toward the end of a meeting last week, Howell started grousing about how long it takes to make a left turn from 13th Street onto busy U.S. Highway 17-92. ''I'm tired of sitting there,'' complained Howell. Quick as a caution light, city engineer Bill Simmons was up and reporting that it would cost $5,000 to put a light at the intersection. What's more, Simmons had already checked with the county and State Department of Transportation, and they would be happy to let Sanford buy and erect the light. Who says the wheels of government turn slowly? Maybe it depends on who's turning the crank.

- ONE MAN'S TRASH IS CITY MANAGER'S MONUMENT. The badly bent electrical conduit heaped outside the new Oviedo City Hall looks like typical construction trash. But to City Manager Gene Williford, it is a monument to a first-class building. The specifications called for 3/4-inch conduit, but Williford noticed that 1/2-inch conduit had been used. The contractor offered to knock $700 off the cost and leave the 1/2-inch conduit there. Nothing doing, said the city manager, so two electricians spent more than a week replacing the conduit. Later, Williford noticed a small noose hanging from the ceiling. ''Do you think that was meant for me?''

- DEFENDER OF DEVELOPERS

FASHION CRITIC TOO. After a grueling two nights of listening to residents try to fend off growth in their neighborhoods, some Seminole planning board members were a bit testy. When member Frank Shelton railed about the horrors of planned unit developments, colleague Harry Hagle told Shelton that everyone has likes and dislikes. Hagle said he did not embrace one-acre lots the way Shelton did. Furthermore, Hagle said, ''I don't like the shirt you're wearing.'' He later apologized.